BBM: Pag alam ko na, sasabihin ko sainyo. Ibig sabihin, wala pa akong sinasabi sainyo na announcement ibig sabihin wala pang date. Alam niyo, iyong pagdeklara ng ganyan hindi nililhim iyan. We announce it. We will announce it. Once we have a date, once I have a decision, then we will let it be known not only to the media but to the entire country.

F: Okay, so next question.

Q: Of the issue on the Mamasapano can affect the passing of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, regarding about the…

BBM: It already has. What happened in there, there is no such thing as an alternative truth. There is truth and there is falsehood. There is no such thing as an alternative truth. I do not know what the President is talking about but it is a very, very strange attitude to take. When the Commander-in-Chief believes the enemies of his men rather than his men. So that kind of disloyalty to your own service men, your own uniformed services, is disturbing and cannot be on any advantage not to us, who are continuously still trying to strive for the truth, not for the policemen who are trying to do their jobs in the face of the great difficulty, and not anyone in government because now we are being told that everything we heard are lies and I could not agree with that. So, I do not know why the President even mentioned this because it makes absolutely no sense to me at all. It makes no sense to anyone who has listened to any of the hearings. The President expects loyalty from his men. The men expect also loyalty from the President.

Q: Asthma is not only exacerbated by traffic and pollution but also from burning fossil fuels. Dominantly, coal. What is your position on the 600 megawatt proposed…

BBM: There have been great advances in technology in cleaning up the, not only coal-fired, but all the traditional oil-fired plants that, power plants around the world.

Q: Did you mean clean coal?

BBM:I’m sorry?

Q: Did you mean clean coal?

BBM: Well, It can only get so clean but the carbon recovery for coal-fired plants has improved a great deal. It is something that we need to be looking to very closely, simply because of the ready availability of coal. Our coal in the Philippines is a little bit on the high sulphur side. So, it’s not particularly good in terms of the environment. So, that is why the technologies are available. I have been to coal plants in several countries. I was quite impressed.

Q: So you support it?

BBM: By how clean. Depending on the technology that is applied. There is, there are technologies that we can say are at least safe for the environment. There is a large percentage of recovery of the carbon. As long as that is applied here, then it is something that we are in dire need of- an extra power generation. So, we have to explore every possible solution that is available around the world and that’s why besides alternative energies, we still have to go back to the traditional power plants because there are issues. I come from Ilocos Norte where we have a great deal of wind power.

Q: Inaudible

BBM: The location of wind farms are not a political decision.

Q: What decision is it then?

BBM: Nature. Nature will tell you where wind farms are in fact viable. You cannot say, because I am the Governor of this place I want to have wind farms here. It’s not just windmill there’s a whole other rough of technical requirements for a wind farm to be viable- commercially viable. If it’s not commercially viable, then there’s no point doing it because no one will invest. So that is something. Although we have a great many wind turbines and solar generation, we know that the wind does not blow every moment every day, the sun does not shine in the nights. We still have to cover our basic load. We still have to have these traditional power plants. But, hand in hand the Chairman has just explained to me that there will be one of the largest, we are not competing with Ilocos Norte, largest alternative energy production in the country so I am going to go back to Ilocos and do some number-crunching and come back and see if it’s true. If it’s not, magpapatayo na kami ng mas maraming wind farm para magkakompetisyon. But that is a good, healthy competition. It is good for the environment. Hand in hand, with intelligent and enlightened development of traditional sources of power, these are things we need to explore. These are things that we are in great need of.

Q: And just this one last point. Diesel is not commercially viable in the Philippines that’s why it has huge subsidies, therefore could you not subsidize renewable energy in the way that diesel is subsidized because diesel is not commercially viable here.

BBM: There are no direct subsidies but there are different arrangements that are being given to give advantage to alternative energy and those are in the form of, well the WTO has its own carbon credits. There are several tax holidays that are given to those who are investing in alternative energy. I think we have done a bit, I think we could, I certainly think the government can do more. Right now, it is all. If you look none of the alternative energy development projects around the country have a government. It is all private. We cannot leave it only to the private sector to develop that very important part of our energy supply. We have to make sure that the government, the government’s policy on alternative energy and in power in general, is fully integrated, is cohesive. Right now, it is not. it is not cohesive. It’s all over the place. There’s one measure here, there’s one measure there. There does not seem to be a single policy or single principle or concept that is being followed right now and that is what I think is lacking because we can see when such government policy is clear and sustainable and enforced, consistently over a long term, these are the elements that are important. It must consistently be applied, it must be over the long term. We have seen in other countries how this has been of great assistance to the alternative energy industry. However, with the projections, that oil might go down all the way to 28 dollars, then that changes the economic picture drastically and of course, we have to take that into account as well.

Chairman: Can I just make a comment. In the first place, the final decision of Meralco, was putting up the coal products. Then reduce the capacity, so they will do 300 megawatt, not 600 megawatt.

Q: Inaudible

Chairman: Yes. It was raised to 6 but now we’ve gone back to 300. Secondly, we have made studies to make sure that number one, we use the latest technology which is the fluidized bed. What the fluidized bed does is it captures even a greater proportion of the carbon emissions. Number three, we had special studies done by an independent research, I think… and we told them to measure the carrying capacity of the Subic Bay Freeport in terms of pollutants. Because of our situation also, they came out with a figure of something, my question is how much will a 600 megawatt coal plant affect the carrying capacity of Subic? They said, less than two percent. Less than two percent. Also, what we’re saying is that you know, Subic is an open area. It is not a confined space like Beijing. So you have the habagat and the north, the amihan, so the wind constantly dissipates the pollutants. That is the advantage of Subic Bay. I’m not saying that they are not going to produce, they will. But what I’m saying is, the board must take that into consideration. So I guess the latest technology and we know the effect absolutely. Unfortunately, we do not have many alternatives. Let’s say for example, diesel or even nuclear. I mean those are not here in the Philippines. So, the other solution is renewable energy. As the good Senator mentioned, on Friday, tomorrow, I’m going to invite all of you, to the ground breaking of a 150 megawatt renewable energy project. This will be done by Emerging Power Incorporated. This is the sister company of Nickel Asia owned by the Zamora family. It will be a hundred megawatt of solar and fifty megawatt of wind. The unfortunate point again as mentioned is that this is not base loan. Because during the day, they cannot provide base loan so you have to provide alternative sources. So it will be fluctuating. There will be two sources. It will be electricity that we continue to buy from and the renewable energy. That is going to be the situation. But at least, at least, that it will reduce again our consumption in terms of the fossil fuels. Which we are trying very hard to do. Last point I want to make is that the Philippines is now the highest cost of electricity in the whole Asian region. Japan used to be number one. We are now the highest cost. For me this is a big obstacle in returning the foreign investments coming in because especially for the industries that… Wow this is your cost. I always counter and tell them, look at the bright side. The bright side is the Filipino people. That is your asset because we’re not only cheap, we’re good. And I think that is the reason why foreign investors continue. We need to lower the price of power here if we really want to become a… Thank you.

BBM: That’s what I was saying that the energy policy needs to be more cohesive because even if the cost of production comes down, with all the other assistance that the government is giving, then the distribution, the transmission. The transmission cost is really not a problem, the distribution. It is down to the electrical cooperatives. They have been the most inefficient part of the system for many, many years now. That is something that really needs a major re-think if we are going to say that we are now a ready supplier of cheap, reliable, energy, it is the single. This is always the first complaint of any prospective investor in the Philippines. Your power, your cost are too high and your power is too unreliable. We cannot live with that and that’s why we lose so much in the FPI.

Q: The people of the Philippines need you to move to a higher position in the candidacy.

BBM: Well that might help. Sa ngayon hindi tayo makapakinggan ng nasa taas. They have taken on a very simplistic, and I would have to say short term and shallow analysis of the problem that we have with China. I think there are many opportunities that we still have to be able to at least begin the resolution of the problem. I can’t say that with one meeting, with two meetings, we will solve everything, but kailangan nating simulan iyong usapan. You have to start somewhere. If you do not start you will never find a final solution.

Q: Stand on the issue on EDCA, and that is spending on the Supreme Court

BBM:I believe the EDCA is a treaty that should be ratified by the Senate. It is not an executive agreement as the Palace seems to insist. Kasi maliwanag na maliwanag that it is an agreement between two sovereign nations and in our Constitution every treaty agreement must be ratified by the Senate; whereas, in this case ginawa nilang lahat na sabihin ng EDCA ay hindi kailangan i-ratify na Senado. Sa palagay ko ay hindi tama iyong interpretasyon na iyon. Pangalawa, kung ito ba ay labag sa Konstitusyon na magkaroon tayo ng bases. Kung babasahin mo iyong EDCA, makikita mo, talagang iniwasan nilang gamitin iyong salitang bases. They say it is a rotational presence. Lahat naman ng bases rotational presence. Iyong nandito mga Amerikano hindi naman sila naiiwan dito na habang buhay. Nandito sila habang duty nila dito tapos lilipat at magrorotate. Bago nanaman ang dadating. So, it is a questionable at best. It is questionable to say that these are not bases that are being established. So we will leave it to the Supreme Court to determine that. As a further point on the EDCA, sa aking palagay, parang luging-lugi tayo sa usapan. Doon sa naging arrangement with the Americans. Dahil they can come into any base in the Philippines. Hindi tayo ang magsasabi sakanila kung saan sila papasok, sila ang magsasabi sa atin kung saan nila gustong pumasok. That is why, we have to be very careful, dahil nandiyan palaki ng palaki ang China, its military power is increasing. Its geo-political interests are widening. Kaya’t kailangan nating magbalanse. We have to take a more balanced approach in our foreign policy especially when it comes to the Americans and the Chinese. Dahil sa laki ng dalawang bansa, ng America at saka ng China, magduruan lang iyong dalawang iyon, wala na tayo, durog na tayo. Kaya’t kailangan maingat na maingat tayo. We have to stop saying, ay kampi ako sa America, ay hindi ako kampi ako sa China. Dapat ang pag-iisip natin, kampi ako sa Pilipinas. Ano ang maganda sa Pilipinas. Huwag natin isipin ano iyong maganda sa America, marami silang nagtatrabaho para diyan. Huwag natin iisipin kung ano iyong maganda sa China. Marami sila doon nagtatrabaho para sa China. I work for the Philipppines. I do not work for the United States. I do not work for China. I work for the Philippines. We have to keep that thought constant in our head. What is good for the Philippines. That is the only, the national interest should be the guiding principle that we are following on our foreign policy. Unfortunately, right now as I said, we have taken a simplistic approach to the geo-political situation in our country. It’s not a simple problem. It is not going to be resolved immediately. It is not going to be resolved by amateurs. It has to be resolved by people who understand the problem- who have experience in diplomacy and who know what are the available options and what are the best options for the Philippines. Saka na iyong mga iba. Iyong atin-atin muna. Iyong Pilipinas.